Telephone-call.



PATENTED MAR. 14, 1905.

P. T. GEYERMAN.

TELEPHONE CALL.

APPLICATION FILED APR.29.1904.

2 SHEETS-SHEET 1.

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witnesses No. 784,557. PATENTED MAR. 14, 1905.

P. T. GEYBRM-AN.

TELEPHONE CALL.

APPLIOATION FILED APR. 29, 1904.

2 SHEETS-SHEET Z.

- avvucmtoz D P6367 Y'Geyermam UNITED STATES Patented March 14, 1905.

PATENT @EFTCE.

TELEPHONE-CALL.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 784,557, dated March 14, 1905.

Application filed April 29, 1904. Serial No. 205,577.

To all whom it may concern.-

Be it known that I, PETER T. GEYERMAN, a citizen of the United States, residlng at Brewster, in the county of Nobles and State of Minnesota, have invented a new and useful Imf provement 1n Ielephone-Calls; and I do hereby declare the following to be a full, clear, and

exact description of the same.

This invention relates to telephone systems which are particularly suitable for rural districts with a limited number of subscribers; and its object is to provide means whereby any subscriber in the system or district may call and communicate with any other subscriber without theaid of a central exchange.

To this end my invention consists in the construction and combination of parts forminga telephone-call, hereinafter more fully described, and particularly defined in the claims, reference being had to the accompanying drawings, in which Figure I is a front viewof a telephone-call box according to my invention, a portion of the front and of certain other parts being removed to disclose the interior. Fig. II represents the same box as viewed from the left hand with the side removed and showing the wiring somewhat diagrammatically. Fig. III is a right-hand side view of the same box. Fig. IV is a diagrammatic representation of the stations of three subscribers, showing the wire circuits and the working of the system.

Numeral 1 represents the box in which the calling apparatus is mounted.

2 is a shaft journaled to rotate in the box and having a cylinder 3, a toothed wheel 4,- and a disk 5 secured upon it to revolve with it.

6 is the starting-crank. Its arm 7 is mounted to rotate freely around the shaft2 and is provided with a pawl 8, which is fitted to engage a single notch 9 in the periphery of the disk 5.

10 is a spring located spirally about the shaft 2 and having one end fixed to the box 1 by a stud 11 and the other end connected with the crank-arm 7 by a stud 12, which continually impels the crank to travel around in the direction of the arrow 13.

The stop-studs 21, located in a spiral curve around the cylinder 3 and projecting a little beyond its surface, may be individually designated by letters from-(4 to m". The letters a to m on the plate 14 represent subscribers, and that plate is fixed to the selecting-frame 15. which is mounted on a shaft 16, to rock a little to and from the cylinder 3, toward which it is pressed by the spring 23.

17 is the selecting-pointer carried by a knob 18, which is fitted to slide in an open slot 19 along the selecting-frame 15. The knob 18 is provided with a stop-pin 20, which nearly touches the surface of the cylinder 3 when the frame is swung back against the box 1, and at such times the pin 20 will be in the path of rotation of some one of the stopstuds 21.

22 is a spring-arm having a knob or wheel 27, which is engaged by the teeth of wheel 4, and this arm carries a spring 23, which is normally in metallic contact with a spring 24, which is fixed upon a block 25, of insulating material, that is a fixture of the box 1. Insulating material 26 is interposed between springs 22 and 23. A wire 28 connects with the spring 23 and passes out of the call-box and extends as a line-wire to the call-box of the next subscriber. A wire 29 connects the spring 24 with an electromagnet 30, and from one terminal station a wire 31 may pass to a battery 32, which is connected with the ground at 33. The spring 23 of the other terminal station is connected with the ground by wire 28.

34 is an armature carried by a ratchet-lever 35 to be actuated by the magnet 30.

36 is a spring connected with the ratchetlever 35 to pull it down and raise the armature away from the magnet, and 37 is a pawl carried by the lever 35 to engage ratchet-teeth on a wheel 38, which wheel is mounted on a shaft 39 to revolve the same. This shaft carries at one end a contact-arm 40, whose contact-point 41 is adapted to travel over a disk 42,0f insulating material, and to engage a contact-point 43, which is located on that disk in a position corresponding to the indice of the subscriber who may be called through that particular point43. I therefore call the parts 40 41 42 43 the selecting-switch.

44 is a metallic spring-bearing in contact with the hub of the arm 40, which hub is insulated from the shaft 39, which carries it.

45 is a retaining-lever, pivoted at 46 to a fixture of the box 1 and provided with a retaining-nib 47 to engage a single retaining-notch 48 in the'cylinde-r 3 to hold the same in its normal position when not in service.

49 is a rod hung loosely by means of a side projection 50 on a tripping-lever 51, which is pivoted at 52 in a post 53.

54 is a tripping-stud projecting from the shaft 39 beneath one end of the lever 51 to hold that end normally raised and the opposite end depressed to carry the hanging rod 49 with its lower end between the retaininglever 45 and a push-pin 55. This push-pin is constantly impelled outward away from the rod 49 by a spring 56.

57 and 58 are electric conducting-springs, which I call the talking-switch. They are normally out of contact, and the spring 57 is located in the path of the lever 45. a

59 is a pointer upon the shaft 39, and the letters a to m on the dial 60 serve to indicate by the aid of the pointer what subscriber has been called.

Spring 57 is connected by wire 61 witha binding-post 62, and spring 58 is connected by a wire 63 with the binding-post 64. The spring 44 is connected by a wire 65 with the bindingpost 62, and the contact-point 43 is connected by wire 66 with the binding-post 64.

67 is a wire leading from post 62 to the ground.

68 is a wire leading from binding-post 64 to the telephone 69,and 70 is a wire leading from the telephone to the line-wire 71.

The operation is as follows: Let us suppose that some subscriber wishes to call 0. We will show the callers device at a. The caller first slides knob 18 along until the pointer 17 is at 0 on plate 14. Then he turns the starting-crank 6 a complete revolution in the direction opposite to the arrow 13, Fig. III. In so doing he brings the nib 72 on arm 7 of the crank around against the latch 73, swinging that latch against stop-pin 74. Now the pawl 8 re'e'ngages notch 9 in disk 5, and the spring having been wound into fuller tension by the turning of the crank tends to revolve the crank and with it the disk 5, the shaft 2, the cylinder 3, and the toothedwheel 4 in the direction of the arrows; but all these parts are normally held from being revolved by the nib 47 on the retaining-lever 45, and to start those parts to moving the operator presses the pin 55 and with it the hanging rod 49 and lever 45, which sets the parts free, so that the spring 10 revolves them. At each advance of a tooth on wheel 4 the spring 22 is pressed down, carrying with it spring 23 and breaking the contact between springs 23 and 24 and opening the circuit through wire 29 to the magnet 30, thus demagnetizing it and setting the armature 34 and lever 35 free to be drawn away from the magnet, as shown in Fig. II, whereby the pawl 37 engages a tooth of wheel 38, and when the tooth 4 passes the knob 27 it permits the spring 22 to rise and close the circuit 23 24 29 30 again, whereby the magnet is energized and again attracts the armature 34, and in doing so it raises the lever 35 and pawl 36 and moves the wheel 38 forward one tooth. That operation will be repeated at every passage of a tooth 4 over the knob or roller 27, and as there is an equal number of teeth on wheels 4 and 38 the arm 40 will be carried around step by step until the cylinder is stopped, which will be done when thestud 0" comes against the stop-pin 20, at which time the crank will have arrived at '80, as shown in dotted lines in Fig. III. Now the point 41 is in contact with os plate 43, so though every wheel 38 and arm 40 in this district will be moved forward as described, yet subscriber c is the only one whose phone is in circuit with the calling-subscribers phone, and his bell is the one which will sound when the caller rings. For convenience in showing the circuit the call-bells,

which are usually located on the telephoneboxes, are diagrammatically shown at 75 in Fig. IV. Each subscribers telephone may be provided with a battery, or the line may be electrically vitalized by any other usual means. Let us suppose a to have called 0. as cylinder 3 has moved forward until its notch 48 is stopped, as shown in the diagram, Fig. IV; but all the other cylinders remain held by the retaining-levers 45, and (ts springs 57 58 are closed as long as lever45 presses them together, and that will be as long as the catch 47 rides on the face of the cylinder 3, so when (6 rings at his telephone 69 the circuit starting at his groundwire 67 is through wire 61, springs 57, 58, and wire 63, then through as telephone and out on wire 70 to line-wire 71, then into cs phone on his wire 70, then over wires 68 66 to his contact-plate 43, thence through his arm 40, spring 44, and wire 65, bell 75, and wire 67 to ground. The call-bell 75 and the telephones of both a and 0 are in that circuit. It will be seen in Fig. IV that-cts phone is not in'circuit through his contacts 41 43, nor is any other subscriber excepting 0; also, that as circuit is through his springs 57 58 and no others on the line have these springs in contact excepting the caller a, and every one in this district may know when the line is in use by the position of his indicator 59, and by the same means he may" know what called subscriber is using the line. When a has completed his message, he pulls pin 20 out of engagement and returns it to place. This permits his wheel 4 to be propelled forward again by the spring 10 until the crank-nib 72 is stopped by the latch 73 being swung against stop-pin 76.

This latch swinging from pin 74 to pin 76 permits the crank 6 to revolvea complete circle, so as to get the full service of every tooth on wheel at, and it stops the crank after every full revolution, even though the spring 10 is under tension sufficient to overcome the resistance of spring 22 and keep the wheel revolving steadily to the last notch of each revolution.

The disks 5, wheels 4, and cylinders 8 are never turned backward, but always forward to set all the wheels 88 as called for and to finally carry them not back, but forward to their starting-point. Each disk 42 has only one contact-plate e3; but the disk having a shaft 77, mounted to be revolved in the post 78 and being provided with a binding-screw 79, may be rotated and fixed with its contactplate at any point in the circle of revolution, so that a lot of these call-boxes may be made in duplicate in every respect and the disk 42 of any box may be set with its contact-plate 43 in position to serve any subscriber.

There may be any numberof teeth on the wheels and 38; but both should have the same number, and there may be a subscriber to every tooth, and yet it is not necessary that there should be any particular number of subscribers or that all the teeth should be connected into the service to make the system complete in operation. A convenient arrangement to insure the pin 20 of each callbox being kept out of the way of the studs 21 when not in service is to locate the call-box 1 above or below the telephone-box and connect the arm 80 of the selecting-frame 15 by a rod 81 with the arm 82 of the telephone on which arm the receiver 83 is hung,so that the weight of the receiver in holding down the arm 82 when it is not in service will also hold down arm 80 against the lifting action of spring 23. There is but one stud 21 in the plane of revolution of the drum 3 corresponding with each letter a b c, &c., on the plate 14, and each of these studs 21 bears a definite relation circumferentially to the location of corresponding teeth of the wheels L and 88, the arm i0, and the contact-plate 13, whereby the operation of this mechanism will bring the switchpoint 41 to stop in contact with the plate 43, which corresponds with the letter indicated on the plate let. The letters marked on the plate 1& and the dial 630 and beside the studs 21 may be called indices. \Vhen the ratchetwheels 88 start to revolve, the tripping-stud 54 is moved from under the lever 51, which is pulled down at that end by spring 53, and the other end raises the hanging rods 49 out of reach of the push-pins 55 of every subscriber, so that no one but the first caller can close his own circuit at 57 58 to listen.

Having thus fully described my invention, what I believe to be new, and desire to secure by Letters Patentjis the following:

1. In telephone-calls, two shafts journaled in bearings; a notched disk, a toothed wheel, and a cylinder provided with a notch, and a series of projecting stop-studs fixed upon one of the said shafts to revolve with it; a crank mounted to revolve around the shaft and having a pawl to engage the said notched disk; a spring acting between the crank and a fixture to impel the crank continually in one direction; a stop for the crank at the ends of its path of revolution; a retaining-lever pivoted in the box and having a catch to engage the notch in the cylinder; a selecting frame mounted to swing toward and away from the said cylinder and having a slot and indices marked beside it, longitudinal of the cylinder, also having a projecting arm and rod to connect it with the receiver-hanger of a telephonebox; a spring impelling the selecting-frame toward the cylinder; a stop-pin fitted to slide in the slot in the frame to engage either of the said stop-studs on the cylinder; a springarm carrying an electrical contact-spring, and having a knob to engage the teeth of the said wheel; a second electrical contact-spring fixed to be engaged by the first; a pointer, a tripping-stud, a ratchet-wheel and a switch-arm, fixed to the second of the two shafts; a fixed dial having indices to register with the said pointer; a tripping-lever to be engaged by the said tripping-stud; a ratchet-lever and pawl to engage the said ratchet-wheel; an electrical contact-spring to engage the hub of the said switch arm; a disk of insulating material mounted on a revolubly-adjustable shaft, and an electrical contact-plate on the disk to be engaged by the said contact-arm; an electromagnet and an armature opposed to it on the ratchet-lever; a rod hanging upon the tripping-lever adjacent to the aforesaid retaininglever; a pair of electrical contact-springs located adjacent to the retaining-lever on the side opposite to the hanging rod; a push-pin adjacent to the hanging rod on the side opposite to the retaining-lever; a call-bell and electrical wire connections substantially as described.

2. In telephone-calls, a rotary shaft connected with calling mechanism; a disk fixed upon that shaft and having a single notch in it, a starting-crank mounted to rotate around the shaft and provided with a pawl to engage the notch in the disk; a spring to actuate the crank, and a latch hung to swing in the path of the crank, and a stop at each end of the path of the latch.

3. In telephone-calls, selecting mechanism comprising a cylinder having stop-studs projecting from its surface, each stop-stud occupying a separate circular plane and a separate circular position relatively to the other stopstuds on the cylinder; a selecting-frame hung to swing to and from the cylinder and having a slot through it and indices on it lengthwise of the cylinder; and a stop-pin fitted to slide ITS ister with the indice on the frame which corresponds with that one of the stop-studs.

4:. In' telephone-calls, a toothed Wheel; a spring for revolving it, and means for stopping it at a desired point; a spring-arm having a knob to engage the teeth of this wheel; an electrical contact-spring attached to the said spring-arm; another spring located normally in electrical contact with the said contactspring; and wires connecting these springs with means for operating an electrical selecting-switch.

5. In telephone-calls, a cylinder mounted to revolve and having a series of stop-studs on its surface; a selecting-frame hung to swing to and from the cylinder and provided with a stop-pin fitted to be set to engage any one of the stop-studs, and further provided with an arm projecting in a direction away from the cylinder; and a rod attached to this arm to connect it with a movable telephone-receiverlianging device.

6. In telephone-calls, a cylinder mounted to revolve and provided with a series of stopstuds, and having aretaining-notch in it; aretaining-lever to engage the said notch; a pushpin; a selecting-switch, an electrical contactarm of which is mounted upon a rotary shaft which carries a tripping-stud; a tripping-lever mounted to engage the said tripping-stud; and a rod hung upon the tripping-lever to depend between the said push-pin.

7. In telephone-calls, a cylinder mounted to revolve and having a series of stop-studs upon it and a retaining-notch in it; a retaining-lever to engage the said notch; a push-pin; a selecting-switch, a tripping-lever connected with the operating mechanism of the selecting-switch; a rod hung upon the tripping-lever between the retaining-lever and the pushpin, and two talking-switch springs having electrical connections with subscribers telephones; one of the said talking-switch springs being located in the pathof the said retaining-lever.

8. In telephone-calls, a cylinder mounted to revolve and having a series of stop-studs upon it and a notch in it; a retaining-lever to engage the notch; a talking-switch adjacent to the retaining-lever; a push-pin; a rod normally hung between the push-pin and the retaining-lever; a selecting-switch and communicating means between it and the said rod whereby the rod is withdrawn from between the push-pin and the retaining-rod during the time the selecting-switch is operating or in service, substantially as described.

In testimony whereof I have signed my name to this specification in the presence of two subscribing witnesses.

PETER T. GEYERMAN.

retaining lever and Witnesses:

LEON MORRIS,

F. R. GEYERMANN. 

